A department management authentication system in a print process by a conventional printer normally uses the following method.
(1) When cost for expendables in a document processes by a printer, cost for the use time of the printer, and the like are managed for respective users or departments such as affiliations and the like, department authentication requires a user who executes a print process to input a user ID and password in advance at the beginning of the print process.
(2) Upon executing a document print process by the printer, to do a secured print process that requires security, a user is required to input his or her user ID and password on the user interface of a printer driver on a host system in advance and to again input the same user ID and password on the control panel of a printer at the beginning of the print process.
(3) It is a common practice to input the user ID and password for each print job.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-207661, a user name, group name, and password are appended as a header of print instruction data which is sent to a printer. When the user sets “user name”, “group name”, and “password” (authentication data) on a driver window, and instructs to start a print process from an application, the data is transferred to the printer, and a management system controller of the printer interprets the header to confirm the user name, group name, and password. The controller compares a user name list of registered users who can use the printer, and the user name in the data to check if the user is authentic.
Recently, it is required to manage a using status of a printer in accordance to each of users or departments. However, in the prior system, it is not possible to manage the using status in accordance to each of applications. For example, it is impossible to change a user or department when the user or department executes a print process via a specific application, or to prohibit a user or department from executing a print process via a specific application.
Also, in the prior art, when user authentication is made in a print process by the printer, the following problems are posed.
(1) Since department authentication or user authentication is done by making each user who executes a print process input his or her user ID and password in advance and again at the beginning of the print process, the user ID or password is likely to be leaked to a third party.
(2) Since the user ID and password are input for each print job, complicated user authentication operation is required.
(3) It is impossible for an external authentication apparatus to recognize a name of application instructing an execute of a print process, which name is used for management or limitation of the print process, without complicated operation, when a user or department executes the print process using data formed via a specific application.